A weekend of firsts

Whew! This weekend was busy! We had a weekend of firsts here in the Newell household. It snowed on Saturday night making it our first official snow (that stuck) in Kansas City. Let me tell you folks, it is sticking! It is now Monday night and the snow has not melted at all! It is freezing cold here....welcome to Kansas!

Since it snowed that meant our driveway needed to be shoveled. So off to Lowe's we went after church to buy a snow shovel. I kid you not, we did not own a snow shovel until Sunday morning. That is just not something you need in Atlanta. Subsequently, this was the first time Bill has ever shoveled snow...ever...in his entire life.

Lastly, William Walker started rice cereal on Sunday! We went to his 4 month appointment on Friday and he is a healthy growing boy and the pediatrician said we could go ahead and start solids. He is a whole 2 lbs heavier than Ridley was at this age and about an inch taller. This is surprising considering he started out 2 lbs smaller and an inch shorter than her! He has not been sleeping as well as I'd like (I can't remember the last time I got 8 solid hours of sleep!) so I'm hoping adding cereal into his regimen may help him sleep a little longer at night! He took to it pretty well, opening wide for the spoon and swallowing some of it. I have to admit, a large portion of it ended up on his bib and down the side of the bumbo seat, but he did great for his first time! My little man is growing up so fast! Here are some pictures documenting our weekend of firsts.

First time Ridley has washed dishes,

think I can make this a habit?

My little guy's first bite of cereal!

Swallow it down bud!

Dixie liked the snow shovel too!

I love the way the snow looks, just not how cold it is!

Ridley loved playing in the snow!

Ridley got to ride this fun train at Union Station!

Attempt at getting a picture of the kids in front of the Christmas tree. Oh well, I'll try again later!

Thanksgiving at the Lake

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoyed remembering everything you are thankful for this year. I have to say, we have been so blessed this year and have so much to be thankful for including a new house, a new job for Bill which he is liking much better, a new baby boy (the best gift of all), and a healthy, potty-trained 3 year old!

We spent this Thanksgiving at the Lake of the Ozarks with my Dad, aunts, uncles and cousins. Since my grandmother passed away this year, it was the first year there wasn't a big celebration at her house and we all thought it was appropriate to bring it to the Lake this year. My aunts and uncles are cleaning out my grandparents' house and brought all the dining room furniture down to the lake house. We enjoyed a delicious dinner sitting at the same dining room table they've been sitting around for the last 40-some years.

Ridley had a blast with her cousin Celia and Walker enjoyed all the attention he got from my cousins and aunts. I think someone was holding him almost the whole weekend! Here are some pictures although I wasn't very good about taking many.

Aunt Barb holding WW

Celia eating stuffing straight from the serving dish

The Medeiros family plus WW, they look good as a foursome!

Picture of the table

My mom made the kids' outfits, WW soaked his with drool

before I had a chance to get a picture of the two of them together!

The girls were running around with Grandmommy's silver on their heads!

The girls taking a much needed bath after dinner.

Celia (2) and Ridley (3).